The meltdown and spectre mitigations weren't patched in microcode, they were pat... | Hacker News

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		rocqua on Aug 8, 2023 \| parent \| context \| favorite \| on: Downfall Attacks The meltdown and spectre mitigations weren't patched in microcode, they were patched by changing the internal calling methods of the kernel.

mike_hearn on Aug 8, 2023 [–]

I think it was both. There were initial software only patches, but those were quickly superseded by microcode+kernel patches, where microcode added features the kernel enabled. IBRS or something like that.

cbsmith on Aug 8, 2023 | [–]

It was both, and none of them completely addressed the problem. They did need new hardware for that.

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